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Even though the iPhone 3G launch is just days away, we shouldn’t forget about those great iPhone optimized websites. Some of these iPhone optimized websites may be shuttered in favor of an iPhone application, but some might stick around. I’ve been meaning to write about the following iPhone website for nearly a year now, but I’m just now getting around to it. I’ve used this website for nearly the entire time I’ve had my iPhone.

It’s no secret that I’m a huge fan of NetNewsWire. I’ve written about it many times before. One of the reasons I love the application is the accompaniment of several other ways to access your feeds beside the Mac desktop application. The folks behind NetNewsWire, NewsGator, have a Windows product, a mobile application, a web app, a mobile web app, and an iPhone specific web app.

The iPhone web application (pictured here) syncs with all the other NewsGator RSS products, so any changes to your feeds using the iPhone optimized website are reflected in whatever other NewsGator products you are using. This syncing ability is the main selling point for me.

Clicking a feed name brings you to the 20 most recent unread posts in that feed with about the first 25 or so words of the post. A tap of the more link will expand the post to the full text. As you mark each post read, it will disappear from your feed. Clicking the “Page Read” link at the bottom of the page will mark all remaining posts on that page as read. The UI is great, making this iPhone optimized website very easy to use.

The only downside to the web app is that you can’t add feeds or mark a previously read feed as unread. The ability to add feeds is certainly not a big deal as this would add confusion to the ease of use of this great website. By not allowing you to mark posts as unread, it keeps the web app from downloading unnecessary data keeping the app speedy.

If you have a NewsGator account, just head on over to the NewsGator Mobile site, and you’ll be automatically redirected to the iPhone optimized website if you’re using an iPhone or iPod touch. Sign in and you’ll see your feeds! It’s really as simple as that.

Up later this week: I’ll feature the only other iPhone optimized website I use on a near daily basis.

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